Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 0.3% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 0.3% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $578.74 and last traded at $580.51. 4,374,584 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 13,607,935 shares. The stock had previously closed at $582.36.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $655.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $604.56.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.